All of the pieces seem to be falling into place for Amazon’s rumored set-top box — and now we have a potential wireless game controller.

The controller sports the usual buttons, directional pad, and analog sticks, but it also includes buttons dedicated to Android functions (the three in the center), and media controls at the bottom. Unearthed by David Zats via a Brazilian regulatory agency (PDF), it’s our closest look yet at the hardware that could be in Amazon’s media box, which should also run services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.

At first glance, the wireless Bluetooth controller resembles just about every other modern gaming pad. If real, it’s clearly Amazon’s first stab at gaming hardware — it looks excessively bulky, and it’s not something I’d look forward to holding in my hands for long. It resembles other first-time game controllers, in particular OnLive’s controller (although even that one seemed more slick).

Above: Onlive’s console and controller

While Amazon will likely make Android games a centerpiece of its media box, this controller seems capable of much more — in particular, streaming game services. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something equivalent to OnLive offering full-fledged PC games on Amazon’s box.

Google recently bought Green Throttle Games, a failed Android game studio, which also gives us some hints about its rumored set-top box. Expect games to be a big part of Amazon and Google’s media boxes. Rumors suggest that Apple’s upcoming Apple TV revamp will also have extensive support for games.

Another interesting tidbit: Amazon is apparently using Foxconn, best known for building Apple’s gadgets, to manufacture this controller.

More information:

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]]>0This may be Amazon’s game controller — and it looks awfulPowerA launches Moga Ace game controller for iOS deviceshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/11/20/powera-launches-moga-ace-game-controller-for-ios-devices/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/20/powera-launches-moga-ace-game-controller-for-ios-devices/#commentsWed, 20 Nov 2013 14:00:07 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=862809The new game controller works with iOS 7 devices.
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PowerA is launching its Moga Ace Power game controller for iOS devices today. The controller is one of many that aim to turn your mobile device into a gaming machine with console-like controls.

The market for smartphone and tablet add-ons has become a big one, and gaming is one of the biggest areas for accessories. Woodinville, Wash.-based PowerA has been trotting out a steady number of controllers for mobile devices, but this is its first foray into the Apple game controller market. The timing matches that of a rival controller, the Logitech PowerShell, which is also debuting today.

Both controllers are taking advantage of iOS 7’s support for MFI-certified controllers. The Moga Ace Power will work with a large library of games on the app store. You can drop the iOS device into the middle slot and lock it in place. The Moga Ace Power collapses together when you don’t have a device in the slot. It connects via the Lightning connector and it has dual-analog sticks, L1/R1 and L2/R2 shoulder buttons, a D-pad, and four-action buttons.

It matches the exact controls you have in a console game, whereas the Logitech device does not have analog sticks. You can also charge your iOS device when using it with the Moga Ace Power, which has a 1800 milliamp battery. That lets you play for longer sessions.

“MOGA controllers were built for real gaming by real gamers,” said Eric Bensussen, president and cofounder of PowerA. “We’re excited to deliver Moga Ace Power to iPhone and iPod touch users in time for the holidays and have them experience the precision, console-style controls that promise to revolutionize the gaming experience on these devices.”

Logitech is joining the fray for making game controllers for mobile devices. The company announced today the Logitech PowerShell, which provides console-style game controls for an iPhone or iPod Touch device.

It works with iOS 7 devices including the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5, and the iPod Touch fifth generation. And it is one of the many devices that will take advantage of the fact that iOS 7 now works with MFI-certified controller-like devices.

To use it, you insert your iPhone into a slot in the middle of the controller. Then you can use the analog offscreen controls, including a D-pad positional pad on the left and buttons on the right. But the big difference is that the Logitech device does not have dual analog sticks on it.

On top of that, the device also charges your iPhone as you play.

With the PowerShell, you can use the entire screen for viewing a game, rather than clogging it up with your fingers as you try to use touchscreen controls. The controller should work particularly well with console games such as shooters. The device fits in your pocket and looks about as big as the older PlayStation Portable devices.

“We designed this controller to deliver a true console-gaming experience on an iOS 7 mobile device,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, the general manager of the Logitech gaming business. “With gaming so pervasive on the mobile platform – our research shows that 87 percent of iPhone and iPod touch users play games on their device – it’s time to revolutionize the experience.”

The device gives you full access to power on/off, volume, camera, speakers, headphone jack, and charging. The controller has a 1,500 milliamp battery to supplement the battery of your mobile phone. You can recharge both batteries without removing the phone from the controller.

The Logitech PowerShell Controller + Battery is available online beginning today for $99.99 at BestBuy.com and the Apple Online Store. Competitors include PowerA’s Moga division, which reportedly has an iPhone controller in the works.

William Provancher wants you to get a grip. His startup, Tactical Haptics, is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund small-scale production of a new kind of touch feedback game controller, dubbed Reactive Grip.

Above: Reactive Grip gives you feedback in both hands.

Image Credit: Tactical Haptics

The Reactive Grip gives you much sharper sensations than the aging “rumble” game controllers with haptics, or touch feedback, from companies such as Immersion. I was able to demo the device, and the grip really does give you quite a bit of force feedback. It shows you how it feels to stab at a body with a sword, shoot a gun, fire a slingshot, or ride a dune buggy. It’s one of those experimental technologies that you have to feel to understand.

Provancher launched the Kickstarter this morning in hopes of raising at least $175,000. With that money, he can create 1,000 test units to ship to Kickstarter donors. It is all in the name of keeping gamers from getting bored with the same old game controllers. Haptics can add a new level of realism and physical connection to games, Provancher said.

The technology has its roots in research that Provancher performed over the past six years as a professor of electro-mechanical design and haptics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. In a graduate school haptics lab, Provancher and his students created a variety of haptic feedback devices. They believe that the Reactive Grip controller works best and could fit nicely with technologies such as the Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, which have been a big hit with game developers.

“We want to get these things in the hands of consumers so they can drive the demand for it,” Provancher said. “It’s something you have to experience. As far as applications in gaming go, we are casting a wide net.”

Provancher hopes that the Reactive Grip could be integrated into game franchises such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Elder Scrolls, or Left4Dead. That won’t be easy, as game developers usually want a big audience for a device before they will tailor a game for it.

Above: Reactive Grip prototypes

Image Credit: Tactical Haptics

As I used the controllers, I could feel the impact of a sword hitting a shield and the kick of a gun. Provancher thinks the grips will also work with virtual sculpting, modeling, or remote battle bot applications.

The grip works by mimicking the friction and shear forces that we feel in the real world when holding an object or touching a surface. The device measures the movements of a player’s hand, and an actuator, or small motor, causes small sliding plates in the grip of the controller to recreate the friction and shear forces that you would expect to encounter when holding an actual object, such as a sword, slingshot, or fishing rod. The controller reacts to a player’s actions and motions in the virtual world. You can do things like grab objects, deform them, and feel the reactions.

Provancher made his first working Reactive Grip controller prototype earlier this year and demoed it at the Game Developers Conference as well as the NeuroGaming conference. If the device succeeds in games, Provancher may try to address markets such as virtual surgery and medical applications.

Provancher started Tactical Haptics this year to get serious about commercializing a technology that has been his passion for years. He founded the Haptics and Embedded Mechatronics Lab at the University of Utah and received some government grant money from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program.

He licensed the technology from the University of Utah and has set up his company in both Fremont, Calif., and Salt Lake City. The technology also uses the STEM motion-sensing technology from Sixense, and the current demos have been created with the Unity 3D game engine. The device will debut as a peripheral for a PC.

“Gaming and virtual reality is our first stop, and from there we can pivot into healthcare,” Provancher said.

Green Throttle is going to give a 10 percent affiliate commission for each Green Throttle Atlas Bluetooth Controller that indie game developers help sell. That means it will track whether someone purchases a $40 Atlas controller via an advertisement on an indie web site. Once the transaction is complete, Green Throttle will pay about $4 on the sale.

Charles Huang, the chief executive of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Green Throttle, said in an interview with GamesBeat that a lot of hardware companies are making money from indie developers now. But the developers don’t get a cut when that hardware sale happens.

“We thought it would be nice if indie developers could also make money off of hardware they help sell,” Huang said. “If your game is one of the reasons that people are buying our controllers, then you should benefit. It’s a very competitive market, and this is a new way for them to monetize mobile games.”

Under the affiliate program, game companies can enter into a revenue share agreement with Green Throttle by selling the Atlas Controller directly through their mobile games, using in-game ads. Green Throttle is asking developers to create a customer account on its store and then to request permission to be an affiliate. Once approved, they can log in and get banner ads and images that will track all Atlas Controller sales that are generators. Green Throttle will pay via PayPal at the end of each month once an account accrues more than $20 through the affiliate program.

Green Throttle launched its controller earlier this year. It goes along with an Arena app on the Google Play store. You can connect the controller via Bluetooth to your smartphone, and you can hook up the smartphone display to your TV with an HDMI cable. That allows you to display Android 4.0 games on your TV and play them with your Atlas Controller. It is one of a number of ways that gamers will be able to play Android games in the living room. On top of that, you can use the controller on the run and play on your smartphone or tablet screen.

Green Throttle works with the Amazon Kindle and the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 as well as Google’s Nexus 4 smartphone and other Android hardware. Huang said it took a while to devise the affiliate program because the company wanted to precisely track sales related to its affiliate partners. A number of developers are already using the program.

The company was founded by game industry visionaries Huang, Matt Crowley, and Karl Townsend. Huang was the cofounder of Red Octane, one of the companies that turned Guitar Hero into a billion-dollar business on the game consoles. Green Throttle raised $6 million from Trinity Ventures and DCM.

Huang said the company is trying to spread its reach as widely as possible across Android devices. Green Throttle has already shipped more than 5,000 controllers to development studios.

“It is still early in the market,” he said.

He said he talked to a TV maker in China that said it sells 30 percent of its TVs with Android built into them. By next year, that will be 70 percent.

]]>0Green Throttle will pay a 10 percent commission to indie devs who sell its controllersMicrosoft shows behind-the-scenes design of its Xbox One game controllerhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/05/22/microsoft-shows-behind-the-scenes-design-of-its-xbox-one-game-controller/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/22/microsoft-shows-behind-the-scenes-design-of-its-xbox-one-game-controller/#commentsWed, 22 May 2013 23:42:11 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=742672Microsoft brought more of the controller design process in-house for the Xbox One.
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Click. Click. Click. Click. That was the sound we heard as we went inside the previously secret lab where Microsoft is testing game controllers for the Xbox One game console. It’s the sound of a robot pushing a controller four to five times a second, which is probably faster than you’ll be doing if you get your hands on these controllers. At the Xbox One revelation yesterday, Microsoft took the press through the labs to show how thorough its research was in devising a controller that was just right for you.

Game controllers are a critical accessory that can make or break a system, particularly for hardcore gamers, who develop passionate feelings about the devices that they hold for hours at a time. If there are problems with the controller, it could cascade into a general dislike for the console, which is anticipated to be a multibillion-dollar platform. Fortunately for Microsoft, the feedback yesterday from people who held the controller is positive. It isn’t dramatically different from the current Xbox 360 game controller, and that’s a good thing.

Those with long memories will remember what an embarrassment Microsoft faced when its first game controller for the original Xbox in 2001 was too large, partly because it required two slots for bulky flash storage cards. Anyone with small hands couldn’t even wield the bulky thing well. Microsoft quickly redesigned the controller to be smaller. Since that time, the company has learned a thing or two about industrial design.

With the Xbox 360, Microsoft created a widely acclaimed console controller with the help of outside industrial design companies such as Astro Gaming in San Francisco. But this time, Microsoft was able to do a lot more of the process inside its own walls, said Carl Ledbetter, the senior principal creative director and a leader of the Xbox One industrial design. During our tour, Ledbetter said the team in one building could create a design and walk it over to the Model Shop in another, where Vince Jesus, the lab director, could print out a 3D prototype. That enabled Microsoft to preserve secrecy on the whole project more easily.

“We could bring people in-house and watch them play games in Studio B,” Ledbetter said. “We watched them, with their permission. We videotaped them.”

One of the big changes is a new magnetic trigger that feels different when you pull it. The haptic triggers give you immediate touch feedback. The device also has much more accurate and nuanced force feedback. Older controllers would simply shake when you were shooting a gun or during an intense part of a game. But the force feedback on this sends you different signals depending on what is happening. If you are driving a car, you can feel the bump of the wheels on the road, and you get a different sensation when you hit the brakes.

You can also get precise feedback that feels like a beating heart. Together with the fact that the new Kinect can actually detect your heartbeat, this feature could make for some very interesting effects in future games. The device can simulate a different kind of feedback when you fire a gun. You can feel the rumble of helicopter rotors in another demo.

The device does not have a touchpad or “share button” like Sony’s does with its new PlayStation 4 controller. But Microsoft’s device includes an infrared LED on the front of controller to enable seamless player pairing and identification. Using Kinect, Microsoft can clearly identify a person who is using a controller. The results — players easily jump in and out of games.

Ledbetter said that gamers didn’t really complain about the Xbox 360 controller. But there were things that annoyed them. People with bigger hands felt the battery case on the bottom of the controller get in their way. The screw holes on the bottom of the grip and a plastic seam were also things the gamers could feel. This new controller removed those problems. The seam no longer runs across the bottom of the grip, Ledbetter said. You can still change the batteries. Everything felt nice in my hands.

“People were sensitive to the holes, but we took close-up photos in tests and could tell,” Ledbetter said. “These are things that make it a better product. We wanted it to be more comfortable and we wanted a wider range of hand sizes that could fit it.”

The new controller weighs almost the same as the current Xbox 360 controller. But it feels different because its center of gravity has changed. The battery pack used to be perpindicular to the controller’s front, and it jutted down from the bottom of the controller. Now it has been turned sideways and it is embedded in the body. That was enough to shift that center of gravity so that it feels different in your hands. The AA battery case is still removable. The new controller feels lighter.

PowerA is launching its Moga Pro controller for the U.S. market today. The new device is a step up from the Moga controller launched last fall for Android devices.

The new one has a full-sized look and resembles a traditional game console controller. It is available for $49.99 at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and MOGAanywhere.com.

Next month, the controller will be available at Target.com, Best Buy, Fred Meyer, GameStop, and Walmart stores. For a limited time, it comes with a free download of Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. 3 — or the Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance 3 game.

“The full-size Moga Pro builds on the tremendous success since the launch of Moga Pocket controller last October,” said Eric Bensussen, the president of PowerA, in a statement. “When gamers put the Moga Pro controller in their hands, there’s an instant familiarity.”

The pocket-sized Moga controller released last October, and that older model now sells for $39.99. The new one comes with console-style grips, clickable dual-analog sticks, four action buttons, a classic directional pad, two shoulder buttons, two shoulder triggers, rechargeable batteries, a USB charging cord, and a tablet stand. It can connect with Android devices via Bluetooth.

]]>0PowerA lets loose its Moga Pro game controller for Android devicesGreen Throttle Games launches developer program as part of play to take over living room gaminghttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/19/green-throttle-games-launches-developer-program-as-part-of-play-to-take-over-living-room-gaming/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/19/green-throttle-games-launches-developer-program-as-part-of-play-to-take-over-living-room-gaming/#commentsWed, 19 Dec 2012 13:00:13 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=592814Green Throttle Games is recruiting developers to tailor their mobile Android games for the TV.
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Green Throttle Games is using the humble game controller to disrupt games on the television. It is doing so by launching a portal for Android games that can be played on the TV using a traditional video game controller dubbed the Atlas. And today, the company is launching a program to recruit developers to its platform.

Green Throttle wants creators of Android games to create new titles that can be played with game controllers and displayed properly on a big-screen TV. Green Throttle says it will showcase the mobile games in an attractive way that will help smartphone games take off in the living room. The company hopes to disrupt game consoles in a new kind of platform war that enables Android to invade the living room.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is the brain child of Charles Huang, co-creator of Guitar Hero. The system will enable games designed for Android smartphones and tablets to be played on TVs starting early next year. The Bluetooth analog controller connects wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet, which connects via cable to display images on the television. The point is to make it easier to play the same games both in the living room and on the run.

Green Throttle is offering its Atlas controllers along with the Green Throttle software development kit (SDK) to users of the Corona Labs SDK, Marmalade SDK, Unity development platform, Amazon development platform, and indie development studios. The first 100 qualified developers in each of the above categories to apply for the developer program will receive two controllers and custom support for each middleware solution or hardware platform.

The company aims to create quality content that delivers a console-like experience for gamers.

“We’re here to create new opportunities for developers that help enhance not only their games, but also their visibility within the market,” said Stacey Hirata, head of publishing and developer relations for Green Throttle Games.

Developers can integrate the Green Throttle SDK into their games to add support for multiple wireless controllers. They can buy Green Throttle’s Atlas controller to test compatibility and then submit the game to Green Throttle for review after submitting it to the Google Play store. Green Throttle will also compensate developers when they send gamers to buy a Green Throttle controller. Players will connect their smartphones or tablets to a TV via an HDMI cable. The controller will cost $49.95, and it will debut in 2013.

So far, developers are stepping forward to support Green Throttle. Cmune is creating a version of its hit Facebook first-person shooter game UberStrike for Green Throttle. UberStrike has more than 6 million players and 1.4 million monthly active users on Facebook.

Other indie game developers offering support are nWay, Free Range Games, Mercenary Technology, and Monstrous. Green Throttle raised $6 million in funding. Rivals include traditional game console makers as well as Ouya and makers of game controllers.

]]>0Green Throttle Games launches developer program as part of play to take over living room gamingGuitar Hero co-creator’s Green Throttle Games raises $6M to revinvent TV gameshttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/guitar-hero-co-creators-green-throttle-games-raises-6m-to-revinvent-tv-games/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/guitar-hero-co-creators-green-throttle-games-raises-6m-to-revinvent-tv-games/#commentsTue, 04 Dec 2012 15:28:58 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=583951The plan to disrupt consoles has venture backing now.
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Green Throttle Games, a game-controller company started by the co-creator of Guitar Hero, has raised $6 million from venture capital firms Trinity Ventures and DCM.

At Green Throttle Games, Charles Huang is creating a new virtual game console for the television based on mobile phones and without the actual game console. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is making a game controller that will work with Android smartphones and tablets when it debuts next year. The controller connects wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet, which connects via cable to display images on the television. The point is to make it easier to play the same games both in the living room and on the run.

Other companies like Ouya and PowerA, the maker of the Moga controller, are doing something similar and appear to have a head start. But Huang said in an earlier interview with GamesBeat that his company is seeking broader support, partly by building a full solution that includes a software development kit. The kit enables developers to adapt their games to work with the controller. On top of that, Green Throttle Games plans to partner with game companies to make its own first-party games that will enable two players to play the same game on a single television screen — much the way that today’s game consoles work. Huang said the full solution could usher in a new level of innovation for games and disrupt the existing $60 console game business at the same time. This kind of confrontation could set up a larger battle — one that is already in motion. The likes of Samsung, Apple, Google, and Amazon are on one side.On the other side are the existing game incumbents Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has moved in the direction of Green Throttle with its second-screen solution, SmartGlass. But it is not fully supporting the idea of taking games from Windows Phone 8 and playing them directly on a TV set. By the same token, Sony is not about to take PlayStation Mobile games and enable them to play on a TV set in direct competition with Sony’s own PlayStation 3.

No single company stands fully in one camp or the other, but all of them are figuring out a way to dominate either gaming or the living room — or both. Dedicated game devices are in a war with broader-purpose smartphones and tablets. Bringing mobile games into the living room is tantalizing for the future of gaming. Most game consoles sell no more than 100 million units in their lifespans. Samsung may sell that many smartphones in two quarters, and Apple may sell that many in a year.

Ajay Chopra, the general partner at Trinity Ventures, is joining Green Throttle’s board. Huang started the company with mobile industry veterans Matt Crowley, former Palm and Nokia product lead, and Karl Townsend, lead engineer for the first two generations of the Palm Pilot.

“We believe a large percentage of consumers will use their phones or tablets to play games on a TV, and mobile-to-TV gaming could quickly grow to surpass the console market,” said Huang in a statement today. “By building a straightforward way to enjoy mobile games together with your friends, we hope to revolutionize how mobile games are played.”

“The ability to play mobile games on a big screen TV is very attractive, and Green Throttle’s leadership is well poised to bring in the kind of top quality games and industry connections that are needed to turn the Atlas controller and Green Throttle’s solution into a household name. I have always surrounded myself with entrepreneurs who know how to delight their end users and Green Throttle aims to do just that,” said Ajay Chopra, general partner at Trinity Ventures.

“Advancements of the last several years have redefined consumers’ experiences on mobile devices. I believe that in the next 24 months, the smartphone will reach beyond the few inches of its own display to massively disrupt and cross over to previously independent platforms. I am thrilled to be working with such experienced innovators in reinventing the living room gaming experience,” said Jason Krikorian, general partner at DCM.

A simple video game controller could be the key to unlocking huge markets for games and disrupting existing platforms. That’s the conclusion of Charles Huang, co-creator of Guitar Hero and the founder of mobile game controller company Green Throttle Games, which came out of stealth this week with a plan to upset the status quo in the game console business.

Sound crazy? It’s worth taking seriously because the difference between an incredible game platform and a boring one often lies in the quality and ease-of-use of the user interface. The mouse and keyboard have worked fine for decades, but the touchscreen finally matured and became easier to use with the iPhone. Touchscreen games exploded, and touch-oriented devices disrupted the traditional handheld game systems like the Nintendo DS.

But as much as the touchscreen represented an advance for casual game players, it was too imprecise for use with the most demanding games, such as fast-action first-person shooters, Huang said. That limited how much of the game business that smartphones and tablets could steal away. To play first-person shooters, you needed a real game controller.

The game controller is intimidating to non-gamers. That was why Nintendo created the motion-sensing Wii controller, which resembled something else that was familiar: a TV remote control. But the Wii-mote was imprecise, and it didn’t work well with shooters or racing games. Still, the Wii was disruptive because it captured non-gamers, the people who would have never picked up a controller. Nintendo tricked (or enticed) those people into becoming gamers via motion sensing technology.

Microsoft introduced yet another cool user interface, the Kinect motion-sensing system, in 2010 for the Xbox 360. Instead of holding a controller, your body became the controller. Motion sensors could detect your body and map its movements into game controls. But Kinect didn’t work at ranges closer than 10 feet, and it was also imprecise. Intel is working on technology it dubs “perceptual computing,” where you can wave a hand inches from a laptop and it will detect your movement as a computer command. Gesture-based controls will get more precise at some point, though they’re not there yet.

So far, nobody has really beaten the humble game controller at precise control. Casual gamers won’t use it, but the hardcore folks swear by it.

“It’s like the QWERTY keyboard,” Huang said. “Whatever its flaws, gamers know how to use a controller with analog sticks and buttons.”

So Green Throttle is launching a controller for Android mobile devices. On top of that, it will provide a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable to hook the mobile device up to the TV, so you can display the cool game graphics on a flat-panel TV.

This is where the disruption can happen. If you buy Green Throttle’s controller and an app to go with it, you can play fast-action mobile games on a big screen, without having to buy an expensive video game console. You can play cheap Android games rather than dish out $60 for each console title.

The threat isn’t lost on the console companies. Sony has embraced mobile gaming with PlayStation Mobile. Nintendo’s Wii U has a tablet-like controller with analog sticks. And Microsoft has launched its “second screen” experience with its SmartGlass app.

There is no end to the possibilities here. That’s why we’re seeing an explosion of innovation in the controller space. Rivals such as PowerA, maker of the Moga mobile game controller, see the opportunity. So does Wikipad, which is making a new gaming tablet with analog stick controls. If somebody nails the solution, then you will be able to play free-to-play apps on a television. And that will disrupt the consoles.

And it will introduce the big players of the new gaming business — Google, Apple, Amazon, and Samsung — into the living room and bring them into direct conflict with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard.

And at some point, every one of those players will probably want to get their hands on a good game controller solution. Players like Green Throttle will be happy to provide it to them. Yes, it’s quite possible that the lowly game controller company could become a king maker.

]]>0The DeanBeat: the game platform wars revolve around the humble controllerGuitar Hero co-creator unveils startup with a plan to mobilize the living room (exclusive interview)http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/06/guitar-hero-co-creator-unveils-startup-with-a-plan-to-mobilize-the-living-room-exclusive-interview/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/06/guitar-hero-co-creator-unveils-startup-with-a-plan-to-mobilize-the-living-room-exclusive-interview/#commentsTue, 06 Nov 2012 13:00:06 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=569018Charles Huang, the cocreator of Guitar Hero, wants to connect a game controller to your smartphone and play games on your TV. But the plan is more than that.
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As co-creator of Guitar Hero, Charles Huang shook up the video game world with cool new faux-guitar peripherals that injected new excitement into video games. Now he’s back with a different kind of game controller, hoping to the disrupt the world of video games again. If it works, we’ll all be enjoying cheaper, high-quality games on our TVs in a “mobilized” living room.

At Green Throttle Games, Huang is creating a new virtual game console for the television based on mobile phones and without the actual game console. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is making a game controller that will work with Android smartphones and tablets when it debuts next year. The controller connects wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet, which can be connected via cable to display images on the television. The point is to make it easier to play the same games both in the living room and on the run.

“Mobile gaming is exploding, and new smart devices are becoming powerful alternatives to traditional consoles,” said Huang. “We just need a simple and fun way for people to play games both on the go and on the couch. Our mission is to create great game experiences that bring people together — a big-screen experience where you can just start playing games on a television, as simple as that.”

Rivals in the battle for the living room

Other companies like Ouya and PowerA, the maker of the Moga controller, are doing something similar and appear to have a head start. But Huang said in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat that his company is seeking broader support, partly by building a full solution that includes a software development kit. The kit enables developers to adapt their games to work with the controller. On top of that, Green Throttle Games plans to partner with game companies to make its own first-party games that will allow two players to play the same game on a single television screen — much the way that today’s game consoles work.

“We want to change the phone into a full console experience so you can enjoy first-person shooter games and racing games,” he said. “You don’t need the game console for that. We are reimagining games for the living room.”

Huang said the full solution could usher in a new level of innovation for games and disrupt the existing $60 console game business at the same time.

This kind of battle could set up a larger battle — one that is already in motion. The likes of Samsung, Apple, Google, and Amazon are on one side.

On the other side are the existing game incumbents Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has moved in the direction of Green Throttle with its second-screen solution, SmartGlass. But it is not fully supporting the idea of taking games from Windows Phone 8 and playing them directly on a TV set. By the same token, Sony is not about to take PlayStation Mobile games and enable them to play on a TV set in direct competition with Sony’s own PlayStation 3.

No single company stands fully in one camp or the other, but all of them are figuring out a way to dominate either gaming or the living room — or both. Dedicated game devices are in a war with broader-purpose smartphones and tablets. Bringing mobile games into the living room is tantalizing for the future of gaming. Most game consoles sell no more than 100 million units in their lifespans. Samsung may sell that many smartphones in two quarters, and Apple may sell that many in a year.

Into a perceived gap comes Huang’s 12-person start-up. He believes there’s a big opening here because some major types of games just don’t work well on mobile devices: first-person shooters, which require precision game controllers rather than touch-screen swipes, and racing games, which are more easily played with precision gear. Both of these are huge markets on the consoles, but they hardly exist on mobile devices, which finally have the horsepower to do justice to 3D games. Controllers with precision buttons and analog sticks are the best way to control most core games.

“Publishers might have a vested interest in the $60 game, but developers might be able to see what is possible,” said Huang. “The television wars are coming. There is a global set of players.”

How it works

Green Throttle tackles this problem by pairing a game controller with a mobile device using a Bluetooth connection. You can then attach the mobile device to the TV via a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable. This solution works best since Wi-Fi network connections usually aren’t fast or reliable enough, said Huang.

That solves half the problem. But a lot of mobile games on Android and iOS are designed for just one player to play on a single screen at a time. The problem with mobile gaming, said Huang, is that it is currently a solitary experience without the kind of excitement that can happen when friends gather to watch two players duke it out in the living room.

Huang is in talks with video game developers to solve that problem so they can create mobile games that can be played by two people on a single big screen. Today, the company is making its hardware and software development kits available for developers. In the future, Huang hopes to make it easy to develop games for Green Throttle by integrating the SDK into game development platforms such as Corona and Unity.

Green Throttle is also working on an app that serves as the opening menu screen for a game console. The app will make it easy to scroll through a library of games and select the one that you want to play. It could also be used to play other kinds of media on the phone and project it onto the big screen.

The company is also working on a website. The Green Throttle Arena is a central hub where consumers can download all games supported by the Green Throttle controller, including those developed in-house, by software partners, or by third-party game developers.

Huang believes that developers are likely to be the parties that will be drawn to his solution since they will benefit from bypassing the consoles — and their royalty fees — and publishing directly on the arena. That support from developers is why the Ouya crowdfunding project was so successful (Ouya raised more than $8.6 million on Kickstarter for its Android-based game console coming this spring).

“We are building a complete ecosystem,” said Huang.

If anything, Green Throttle’s disadvantage is its lateness. The company was founded in February, and it is behind PowerA, which has launched its Moga mobile gaming controller this fall. Ouya is also set to debut in the spring. Green Throttle is only now issuing its software development kit today, and it hopes to have apps in the works to support a product launch in the spring. To succeed, it needs great games, great peripherals, marketing, distribution, and a great online service. That’s a lot for a start-up to tackle.

A billion-dollar track record

But Huang has a solid history as an entrepreneur. He and his brother Kai (who is a seed investor in Green Throttle) founded RedOctane in 1999. They teamed up with developer Harmonix Music Systems to release Guitar Hero in November 2005 on the PlayStation 2. The game, which came with a plastic faux guitar, let normal folks strum the instrument and pretend to be rock stars. It became a huge phenomenon, and Activision bought RedOctane for an estimated $99.9 million in 2006. In a couple of years, Guitar Hero became a billion-dollar business. But then the bottom dropped out of the fake guitar market, and Activision shut down RedOctane in the spring of 2010.

Huang left at that time, traveled with his family, and contemplated his next move. Earlier this year, he got together with Palm veterans Matt Crowley (pictured above right, the chief operating officer and cofounder of Green Throttle) and Karl Townsend (pictured below left, the cofounder and chief technology officer at Green Throttle) to create their new start-up. Crowley and Huang started playing the Atari 2600 game console ages ago, when they were 12 years old. They’ve been friends ever since. Crowley worked on the Palm Pre and collaborated with product teams at Nokia while Townsend was one of the original creators of the Handspring and Palm Treo smartphones.

As he contemplated his next venture, Huang wanted to know what opportunity was big enough to become another billion-dollar business. That may be tough to do these days, but that doesn’t bother Huang.

“With Guitar Hero, there was a lot of skepticism,” he said. “I feel more comfortable with skepticism. If it were obvious, lots of people would do it. But the trends in the industry are moving this way. It is on an inevitable path. We are doing the next evolution.”

Huang and his brother provided the seed funding, but they expect to announcing venture capital funding in the coming weeks. Right now, they are building for the open Google Android platform, but Huang would love to talk to Apple about building for iOS.

“Green Throttle is an exciting opportunity to bring console-quality games from your phone to your TV, with a real controller that is instantly familiar to millions of gamers,” he said. “It opens up interesting avenues for new cross-platform genres, games that offer different experiences when played on the TV and on handhelds but keep players in the same world. Imagine games where you ‘level up’ your character on your phone during the day and then plug in to your TV and adventure at night.”

Taehoon Kim, another developer and cofounder of nWay, said that mobile games like his company’s ChronoBlade are examples of how mobile titles are becoming a lot more like console games.

“It is possible to play these games on the touch screen with virtual joysticks while you are on the go, but it is nothing like experiencing the game using proper analog controllers together with your friends while sitting on a living room couch and playing on a big screen TV,” he said. “Green Throttle is reimagining how triple-A mobile games should be played at home, and we absolutely love it.”

Other supporters include development studios Mercenary and Monstrous. Consumer availability, pricing, and launch games will be announced later.

Touchscreens have brought a new dimension to games on smartphones and tablets. But a lot of games, like first-person shooters and fighters, aren’t so easy to play on the new devices. So PowerA has created the Moga controller attachment for Android devices that will make you feel like you’re playing on a console.

PowerA, based in Woodinville, Wash., said today that the Moga Mobile Gaming System will debut at retail on Oct. 21 in the U.S. for $49.99. The controller will come with the free downloadable Moga Pivot App and a soft case. Retailers will also bundle two free games, Sonic CD and Pac-Man, for free with the controller for a limited time.

“Gamers are already walking around with phones with exceptional screens and fast chips,” said Eric Bensussen, the president of PowerA. “For under $50, they can clip that phone into the Moga controller and finally get console-quality gaming experiences anywhere.”

The Moga controller has gotten support from Android game publishers including Gameloft, Atari, Namco Bandai, Sega, Remedy Entertainment, and others. They are all developing games that will work with Moga, and the company says new developers and games will come on board each month. Gameloft will make The Dark Knight Rises HD, Asphalt 7: Heat HD, and Dungeon Hunter 3 into Moga-compatible games while Remedy has enhanced Death Rally to work with Moga. Developers can do so by adapting their games using the Moga software development kit.

“The Moga SDK made it quick and easy to make our steering controls feel more precise and natural in Death Rally,” said Aki Järvilehto, the senior vice president at Remedy Entertainment, creators of the Max Payne and Alan Wake console franchises. “Finally, we have something that’s easy to use, simple to implement, and provides console-like controls that gamers have been yearning for.”

The Moga controller is pocket-sized, portable, and connected via Bluetooth wireless. It has dual-analog sticks, two shoulder buttons, four action buttons, and standard start and select buttons. Moga will support Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) devices and up. It can get 18 hours of gameplay with two AAA batteries.

]]>0Moga game controller for Android devices to debut Oct. 21 for $49.99Wikipad: The company (and tablet) that is bringing console gaming to Android part 2 (exclusive)http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/13/wikipad-the-company-and-tablet-that-is-bringing-console-gaming-to-android-part-2-exclusive/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/13/wikipad-the-company-and-tablet-that-is-bringing-console-gaming-to-android-part-2-exclusive/#commentsMon, 13 Aug 2012 17:00:52 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=506353In part two of our interview with Wikipad's James Bower and Fraser Townley, we learn more about this new Android tablet/game console and how they view the market, Windows 8, and Ouya.
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This is part 2 of our interview with Wikipad’s James Bower and Fraser Townley, the company’s CEO and president of sales. Click here to read part 1.

GamesBeat: Getting back to partnerships, are you working with OnLive as well as Gaikai/Sony?

James Bower: We’re in discussions with OnLive as well. One of the key things of Wikipad is that we’re approaching this as a very open platform. We’re willing to work with a lot of various players. The most important thing for us is that our customers have content and that there are various ways for them to get content. There’s the traditional way through Google Market. And then there’s the streaming games, like Gaikai, which was just bought by Sony, and OnLive. We’re in discussions with what our relationship is moving forward.

We also have other forms of content that are interesting, forming on the horizon, that I can’t share yet. We’re not concerned that there won’t be enough content on the Wikipad to get started, and it’ll only get better over time.

GamesBeat: What is Wikipad’s funding? Is the company self-funded?

Bower: The core founders have funded all of the capital to date–

GamesBeat: And the core founders are yourself….

Bower: Myself, Matthew Joynes, and one other founder that we’ll be announcing shortly. We haven’t discussed him as a founder because of who he is, but that will be coming out shortly. It’s a higher-profile person. A lot of the financing of the business is through banking relationships for the purchase orders we have, and things like that.

GameBeat: You previously worked at Master Image. What was your position there?

Bower: President/COO.

GamesBeat: And when was the company acquired?

Bower: Master Image was acquired from Korea and moved to California in November 2009.

GamesBeat: Do you think you’ll have to look for outside funding, perhaps getting closer to the product release?

Bower: I think it’s a question of how fast we want to grow. As of today, they’re fine. So to answer your question, yes, we’re open to look at that and how it can accelerate the business, but it’s not something we’re overly concerned about doing in the short term because of where we’ve come with doing it ourselves.

GamesBeat: Why go with Tegra T30 instead of the more powerful T33, like in the ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity TF700T?

Bower: One of our goals was to ensure that the Wikipad was both lightweight and thin as possible. The T30s is Nvidia’s smallest, high-powered, component CPU. The T33 is a larger component requiring a larger PCB and would have added addition thickness and, in turn, additional weight to the Wikipad. An additional benefit to the T30s is that it draws less power from the battery. This results in the benefit of longer battery life for gamers using the Wikipad compared to the T33, which draws more power from the battery.

GamesBeat: From my own research, it seems like Wikipad is a secretive company. The company has put out so little information. Is this intentional?

Bower: We really had the intent to come out with the stereoscopic version of the Wikipad. And we made the announcements at CES. With some of the decisions we’ve made to make a better tablet, faster platform, that gamers will take very seriously, some of that strategy had to shift a little bit. We’re being very cognizant and careful about what we announce and when we announce it. We don’t want to mismanage the expectations of our future customers. As you’ve seen, there are a lot of people who are excited with what’s coming, with the potential of Wikipad, of what it means. And we want to be very careful and cautious on what we say, and we want to deliver on what we say.

But you’re going to see a shift in the chatter coming from us, and we’re going to amplify things considerably, going into the launch of the company. It’s just us being cautious.

GamesBeat: Are there any game partnerships, like with developers or publishers, that Wikipad has to release titles specific to the Wikipad?

Bower: We’re working with some of the [graphics] engine guys, like Unity and a couple of other guys that build the engines for other guys. We’re in some discussions for unique game designs for the Wikipad, but there’s nothing to the point where we can make an announcement. We’re going to see a lot of content coming from a lot of directions.

GamesBeat: What can you say about the manufacturing of the Wikipad?

Bower: We’re working with the top two manufacturing plants in the world, that have embraced us as a newer company and have taken us on.

GamesBeat: Can you announce who they are?

Bower: Not yet. But we can sleep at night knowing that the guys who sleep at night are the guys who are manufacturing it for us are manufacturing some of the best brand names in the market.

GamesBeat: Several products similar to the Wikipad have been showed over the last year. The Wii U uses a tablet controller but targets a home audience. Razer’s Project Fiona concept device is a laptop-in-a-tablet with a built-in controller running Windows 8. How would you differentiate Wikipad from these?

Bower: It’s challenging to come back with a very poignant answer to that, because one’s a concept and the other people have only just started to see and play with. The unique factor that we have is that we’re really a bridge between a historically mobile console and the invention of the tablet. We do everything as good or better than other tablets on the market, and very easily you can transform the Wikipad into a very efficient, easy-to-use video game device that’s very comfortable.

How we’re different is that we’re not just about gaming. The focus of the company is gaming; that’s who we are, and that’s our pedigree. But when this comes to market, people are going to realize that, wow, I might as well just buy the Wikipad to do all of this plus have fun with games and have a control mechanism that I have on my console.

GamesBeat: Apple holds 68 percent of tablet marketshare with the iPad. Amazon’s Kindle is the next best, and it’s not even close. Android isn’t even close, even though it’s riding smooth at 50 percent of smartphone marketshare. Is that a concern?

Bower: Not really. Apple’s done such a fantastic job with their products, and we all love them. What we’re coming to the market with is a different concept; it’s not just a tablet — it’s a mobile gaming platform that can do all of the functions that you can with a tablet with all of the advantages you have for gaming. So we’re competing right down the middle with what a tablet is, with what people expect out of a tablet, and with what people expect out of a mini console device.

And it’s a space that isn’t populated by very many, or anybody, because we’re really the first ones to market on this. And the other aspect of this is if we’re as successful with this as we believe we’re going to be, from the indications from retailers, from the orders we already have, we don’t have to dominate a market to do really well, because we’re new, we’re relatively small, and we’re innovative, we’re agile. We have a roadmap for the next 24 months. We don’t have to make 2, 3, 10, 20 percent of the market to do really well. One percent of the market is tremendous success. But I think we’re going to do better than that.

GamesBeat: Do you also see the Wikipad competing with portable game consoles, or does it hit the middle ground so users can have a tablet, a game console, all in one device?

Bower: That’s what I would say. What we’re proposing to the market is a bridge between the two. We’re saying if you get this, you can still do all of the things you love to do with a tablet, and you’re also going to have access to all of the great content that’s historically only been able to get through a console-only device.

GamesBeat: What do you think about newer game technologies like Microsoft’s Smartglass? Or the large number of upcoming Android game controllers? And the recently announced Kickstarter success home Android-based game console Ouya?

Bower: What’s coming from Microsoft is great. We’ve seen some of the prototypes of Windows 8 and RT, and it’s great. The interesting thing about the future of that platform is going to be the access of some PC content. There’s not much I’m going to talk about in relation to our company at this point, as it relates to Microsoft’s platform, but it is something that we’re looking into. It’s something that we’re open to, not to replacing the current platform we have now, but maybe as an additional product. But it’s exciting. I think Microsoft has finally got a hit with this new OS. And behind the scenes, retailers and manufacturers behind the scenes, are really excited.

Bower: Everyone’s going to have their own opinion. I think Android has done a fantastic job on getting out there. If you look at the global numbers, Android has outpaced everything. You then talked a little bit about…?

GamesBeat: Android game controllers?

Bower: You know, for me…I can only speak for myself because our product isn’t on the market yet. If you’re dealing with a mobile product, if there’s separation between the screen and the your person, then it’s an unengaged experience. I think in order to have the experience, on a device that is personal, that you’re willing to put your credit card into, the game experience on controllers has to be directly connected because you’re expecting it to be totally personal. I would rather use this [holding an Xbox controller] than this on a tablet that I have to prop up and play. That’s all I can say. The market will determine who’s the winner at the end.

And since I mentioned Ouya, we’re really excited about Ouya. Them talking about and launching on Kickstarter, and the results that they have, is a really interesting and solid sign for us. The games that are going to play on that are going to work on the Wikipad, and the games that will work on Wikipad will work on the Ouya. The more content that is prepared for them is going to help us, and the more content prepared for us is going to help them. It’s a very interesting concept that they have.

What I think it’s really going to come down to is how can these devices, and how can our partners like google and others, begin to fix the piracy issues? Because the big game developers, the Epic’s of the world, the Crytek’s, they won’t invest the tremendous amount of money they spend to create these great games for consoles until the piracy issues are fixed. Because it’s a lot more difficult to pirate something for a Playstation or an Xbox. It’s just a lot more work. And the discussions that we’ve had with them is yes, the concept is great, but fix the piracy so that our investment of $30 million, $40 million, $50 million, $80 million in marketing and development cost isn’t going to go to a waste and everyone is going to steal it. Fix that problem and we’ll develop everything for this platform.

GamesBeat: But you’re not concerned at this point about piracy….

Bower: Not for us. But I think as far as the experience on these devices, the game publishers need to know that their investment in these high-quality products is protected, and then we’ll see more of that content come about. We’re very involved with the dynamics behind the scenes with our partners like Nvidia and Google and others about how we can help…we’re people’s art that they create is protected, and respected, and paid for. So that there’s enough money so they can develop their next games.

GamesBeat: Have you been in contact with Ouya, maybe for a partnership?

Bower: We love what they’re doing, I’m sure we’re going to have a conversation at some point, but there’s nothing in the works right now. There isn’t anything worth talking about, or even speculating about.

GamesBeat: What about, since we already spoke about potentially going outside of the company for funding, using Kickstarter since Ouya was so successful. Is that something that you’re considering?

Bower: Frankly speaking, we’ve considered that from the beginning. We decided not to because of the significant adoption that has been relayed to us from retailers around the world. Would Kickstarter have helped us or hurt us? We want to see the retailers make money with us. Right now we’re really focusing on the retailer relationships that we already have in place.

GamesBeat: When will the Wikipad ship?

Bower: We’re looking to release later this year.

GamesBeat: And that’s just in the U.S.?

Bower: For now, yes. We’re also actively looking at the European and Asian markets.

Mad Catz Interactive has created a modular video game controller for professional gamers under the MLG Pro Circuit brand name. The cool thing about it is that you can mix and match different modules for the controller to match your own playing taste.

The new product shows it’s still possible to come up with a clever design for controllers in a five-year-old market, and it makes sense to cater to the tastes of the most hardcore fans in the video game industry.

The controller has different modules that you can snap into it, allowing you to change the configuration of the D Pad or thumb sticks to suit your style. You can make the controller resemble the PlayStation 3 controller’s set-up or the Xbox 360’s. The product uses the officially licensed Major League Gaming name to attract professional gamers.

The company showed off the new controller this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It began selling the controller for the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3 on Amazon.com and its own web site for $99.99. That’s definitely pricey, but professional game players are pretty picky. The controller allows you to speed up the turning control for the relatively slow Xbox 360. There is a weight system that allows you to adjust the weight of the controller. It’s a sturdy controller. You can throw it against a wall when you lose a game, and it won’t break.

Check out the video below.

]]>0Asemble your own MLG Pro Circuit Controller from Mad Catz (video)Biomedical company creates muscle sensor based game controller (video)http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/16/biomedical-company-creates-muscle-sensor-based-game-controller-video/
http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/16/biomedical-company-creates-muscle-sensor-based-game-controller-video/#commentsFri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:22 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=365853Gaming execs: Join 180 select leaders from King, Glu, Rovio, Unity, Facebook, and more to plan your path to global domination in 2015. GamesBeat Summit is invite-only -- apply here. Ticket prices increase on April 3rd! Biomedical company Advancer Technologies has created a plug-in-play device that allows players to directly control video games with their muscles using the power of electromyography […]
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Biomedical company Advancer Technologies has created a plug-in-play device that allows players to directly control video games with their muscles using the power of electromyography (EMG).

Using the low-cost, yet powerful Arduino UNO microcontroller, the universal serial bus (USB) Biofeedback Game Controller allows four muscles to act independently or in combination with each other to control over four buttons.

The left forearm controls the B button (run/attack), the right forearm controls the A button (jump), the left bicep controls the LEFT button, and the right bicep controls the RIGHT button, as well as combinations for UP and DOWN. During gameplay, the Arduino UNO program tracks muscle activity through sensors. A spike in activity triggers a button press, sending the information to the computer via the USB connection in real time.

Advancer Technologies is showing off the device in a new video, where a man navigates his way through the first level of Super Mario Bros. 3 using only his muscles.

The company says the controller can be used for practical applications like helping victims of neuromuscular disease or injury rehabilitate their muscles while playing video games. “[Plus] using your muscles to control computers, robots, [and] video games is fun no matter what your age,” the company says.

Advancer Technologies is offering others the chance to make their own USB Biofeedback Game Controller through a detailed tutorial at Instructables.com.

]]>0Biomedical company creates muscle sensor based game controller (video)